The Marine Institute’s Explorers Education Programme has confirmed its return to schools for the 2025/26 academic year with a new nationwide expansion that brings marine-themed education to coastal and inland counties.
Ms. Patricia Orme, the Director of Corporate Services at the Marine Institute said that the expansion “marks a significant milestone for the programme”.
“We are delighted to support this expansion, reaching some inland counties through interactive online workshops and the continued development of our educational resources that are available to all schools online. This underscores our commitment to ensuring all young people are engaged in valuing and understanding the ocean’s influence on our lives, and our impact on the ocean,” she continued.
In addition to the online expansion, the Explorers Programme also welcomes eight new team members to its network that will be providing outreach delivery to coastal counties all around Ireland. Cat and David McCann will be delivering the Explorers programme in Donegal, while new team members in Kerry, Elis Martineili and Dalia Alnajar, will also be delivering a range of marine themed projects in schools in Limerick.
New team members Claire Law and Lauren Cahill-Quinn in Cork, and Lauren Minion, Brian Parle, Angeleen Leckie-James and Rianna Carroll will be delivering in other key coastal counties around Ireland.
Dr Noirin Burke of the Explorers Outreach Team will be leading the delivery to primary schools in inland counties and believes that an online interactive module for schools is a “fantastic way of connecting students to our marine heritage and identity”.
“We are super excited to see the Explorers Education Programme expand to inland counties, bringing a wave of ocean literacy across the country.. and we are looking forward to exploring the ocean with all the schools we meet throughout the year,” added Dr Burke.
Modules include ‘Learning about Squid’, ‘Fintastic Sharks’, ‘Turtle Talk with Sea Turtles’, as well as ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Deep-sea Species’. The coastal teams will also offer hands-on experiences, from seashore adventures to bringing the seashore to the classroom with aquarium modules also being extended to counties such as Dublin and Wicklow.
For further enquiries about making bookings with the Explorers team, please visit www.explorers.ie or make enquires at: http://bit.ly/3HQMXA0.
